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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 6398307" data-attributes="member: 5142">I object to the idea that somehow talking about the setting at its 'best' somehow liberates the comparison from the subjectivity of the subject's bias, that somehow there is an agreed upon 'best.' Because for me a steak at its best is not necessarily what someone else will think is a steak at its best. For them, a steak at my best may be a steak at its mediocre. But I am more interested in a steak at its typical. If I go into a restaurant, sure I want a good steak - as I would in general want to eat good food - but I'm having to weigh that against my expectations for a typical steak, and a typical steak may even be a good steak but it may also be a bad steak, but it's what I should expect at a typical restaurant serving steak. The sword cuts both ways. Yes, but it strikes me as unresolved cliffhanger as opposed to some great change. But in a setting of shifting planes and demon lords that Scrooge McDuck could swim through like gold? That seems minor to me. For me, it's the illusion of change. Planescape "changed" but it mostly stays the same, and in the grand scheme of things, those changes don't feel as such. A demon lord comes back? But the endless Blood War continues. Sigil erupts in civil war ending with the expulsion of the factions? The factions come back in a later supplement. That's the illusion of change. That's preserving the status quo! That's not moving goal posts. Hence my earlier statement that "Planescape seems so focused on preserving the status quo of the quasi-space opera setting that the little guys often feel completely overshadowed in the setting." But please note that my statement is also not an assertion that there are no changes in the setting, it's preserving the status quo and done so in a way that impacts that little guys. And with the forgotten portion of my original statement in mind that started this whole mess, I don't see how you can suggest your assertion about me below: So yes, pemerton has the right of it. Dramatic weight has also been a part of this equation.</blockquote>

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